


Life Finds a Way

by JustSomeGirlll



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Jurassic Park, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/F, Friends With Benefits, a Jurassic Park AU, also, and plenty of tension and witty remarks too, but I wrote anyway, but that isn't really the focus of the story, i sure hope so because i'm doing it, is that a thing?, maybe some fluff, probs gonna be some angst, that absolutely no one asked for, there is a little bit of smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-25
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:36:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 18,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22891855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JustSomeGirlll/pseuds/JustSomeGirlll
Summary: Four scientists and a teenaged girl are among a select group chosen to tour a theme park located on an island just off the coast of Costa Rica. The catch? The island is home to more than twenty species of dinosaurs. The park's creator assures everyone that the facility is safe. However, after a particularly brutal storm leaves the island without power, various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt.OR,I re-watched all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies in one night, and then decided to do my own take on it with some characters we all know and love.
Relationships: Kara Danvers/Lena Luthor, Samantha "Sam" Arias/Alex Danvers
Comments: 84
Kudos: 243





	1. A Proposition is Made

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks!
> 
> Hope you're all well. Anyhow, I'm back with another AU (no surprise there). BUT. It's a Jurassic Park AU that I decided to do after I re-watched all the Jurassic Park and Jurassic World movies in one night (100% worth not going to sleep until 7am for by the way).
> 
> In terms of plot, this story'll be most similar to the original movie but it won't be exactly the same so there's still (hopefully) going to be some element of mystery to the story. As always, I don't intend to plagiarise the original works, I just felt like having a little fun with some characters we all know and love.
> 
> Tumblr: [@just-some-girlll](https://just-some-girlll.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Happy reading :)

* * *

It starts with a proposition.

A proposition made by a man with a hundred-dollar haircut in a dark three-piece suit, who walks into Kara’s tight and stuffy office one warm afternoon in the middle of May. He doesn’t bother to knock on the closed door, nor does he introduce himself before dropping into the chair in front of Kara’s desk, sinking into the plush material and crossing his legs.

“Can I help you?” Kara says, looking up from the notes and photos spread across her desk, and doing everything she can to keep her irritation from slipping into her voice.

The man gives the office a quick glance and hums, seemingly pleased with what he sees, and Kara doesn’t miss the way that he looks at the office as though it’s miles beneath him.

The man turns back to answer Kara. “Ms Danvers—”

“It’s Dr Danvers,” Kara says, and she hums in amusement at the flash of annoyance that appears on the man’s face.

“ _Dr_ Danvers, I’m Maxwell Lord, owner and CEO of Lord Technologies.” He leans forward and reaches for a velociraptor claw sitting on the edge of the desk and plays with it. “I own an island off the coast of Costa Rica. I’ve spent the last five years setting up a biological preserve of sorts on the island. No expense spared.”

“Could you not play with that?” Kara takes the raptor claw from Maxwell’s hand and tucks it away in one of her desk drawers. “I’m not sure I understand why you’re telling me this.”

“See, a few of my investors have expressed their… concerns, shall we say, about the project. They’re insisting that we get outside opinions.”

“And you’ve come to me because…?”

“I want your opinion. Let’s face it, in your particular field, you’re one of the top minds. If I could get you to sign off on the park, maybe give a brief testimonial, I can get back on track.”

“I’m sorry, Mr Lord, but that’s really not something I do.”

“We’re prepared to offer monetary compensation,” he cuts back with.

“Mr Lord, my word is not something you can just buy at th—”

“Funding for a two-year dig. Wherever and whenever you’d like. How does that sound?” And he even smirks as he looks at Kara, as though he’s just made an offer that can’t be refused.

Kara can feel her frustration and annoyance bubbling up inside her and she shoots Maxwell a practised smile that she’s been using for well over a decade now. “As I said before, I’m not interested. Now, I can give you the number of the Museum Director. Dr Grant is a reasonable woman, I’m sure she can help you with your park and give you a testimonial on behalf of the museum.”

He laughs, and it’s the kind of fake laugh that Kara’s seen a few of her colleagues use when they’re trying to secure funding for digs whenever the museum hosts a gala. Expect it sounds more patronizing this time. As though Kara’s just said something so completely wrong and she doesn’t even know it. It’s really testing Kara’s patience.

“Cat Grant’s never been too fond of my research. I won’t bore you with details. Besides, my investors have insisted on you and another palaeontologist from Metropolis.”

Now he’s got Kara’s attention. She leans forward and her voice sounds just a tiny bit frantic. “Who?”

“Excuse me?”

“Who from Metropolis agreed to go?” Kara says, getting maybe just a little bit impatient that it’s taking so long to find out who this palaeontologist from Metropolis is.

“Lena Luthor.”

As soon as Kara hears that name, she sinks back in her chair, a little smile on her face, and she doesn’t really pay much attention to what else Maxwell has to say. Kara doesn’t have the faintest clue as to how he managed to convince Lena to do this, but she’ll be damned if she passes up an opportunity to see her.

“I’ll go,” Kara says, and she’s pretty sure she just cut Maxwell off in her excitement.

“Excellent.” He jumps to his feet and extends his hand over Kara’s desk.

Kara stands too and shakes the offered hand. “Also" —she keeps a firm grip on Maxwell’s hand when he tries to pull away, holding him in place— “I’m bringing my sister, she’s an entomologist here – specialises in the Mesozoic era. I’m sure whatever type of preserve you have will greatly benefit from her expertise.”

“Fine,” Maxwell says, and Kara releases his hand, a small satisfied smirk on her face. “Just be ready to leave tomorrow morning. A car will be waiting outside at eight o’clock.”

* * *

Alex chokes on her food and coughs up the small piece of chicken she’d been in the process of eating. “I’m sorry, I’m doing what tomorrow?”

“You’re coming with me to some biological preserve on this small island near Costa Rica,” Kara explains, smiling as she snatches the last potsticker from the take-out tray.

“Okay,” Alex says, hesitant. “Why am I going?”

“Because I asked if you could come.”

“Why?”

Kara shrugs. “I thought it might be good for you.”

Alex sighs. “Kara, I’m _fine_. Really.”

“I know, I know. You keep saying you are, and I believe you, but it doesn’t mean that this trip won’t do you any good. Besides, it’s only for one night. We’ll leave tomorrow morning and be back before you know it.”

Alex glares at her sister.

“There’ll be plenty of bugs,” Kara says in a cheery voice, hoping that’ll convince her sister to come. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”

When Alex doesn’t give an answer, Kara stares at her sister and does that _thing_ with her face that always seems to convince Alex to join in on whatever crazy idea she has. It worked when they were growing up, and has proven useful more recently, so it stands to reason that it’ll work now.

“No, stop. You can’t keep doing that,” Alex says.

“Doing what?”

“That _thing_.” She jabs in the general direction of Kara’s face with her free hand. “I know you know what you’re doing.”

A beat passes.

“No, I’m not going.” Alex sounds confident, even resumes eating her dinner in an attempt to end the conversation.

“Please?”

Alex’s resolve crumbles and she sighs. “Fine, I’ll come.”

Kara fist bumps the air and starts eating at the noodles she piled onto her plate.

“I hate you.”

Kara barks out a laugh. “No, you don’t.”

“Hang on,” Alex says, a realisation hitting her with the force of a freight train. “Why are _you_ going? You never do stuff like this.”

Kara shrugs and makes a valiant effort to keep her eyes on the noodles on her plate.

Alex narrows her eyes as she studies her sister sitting opposite her. She places her plate on the coffee table and leans forward a bit. “How’d he convince you to go?”

“No convincing.” She shrugs and pokes at her food. “Just, thought it would be a good opportunity. Beef up my CV a bit, y’know?”

“Liar.”

“What?” Kara’s voice comes out higher than she’d hoped. “Pshh" —she laughs and tries to wave the accusation away— “Me? Lie? Never.”

“Bullshit.” Alex grins and leans back in the couch, looking at her sister with amusement. “You’ve got that crinkle right between your eyes.”

Kara mumbles a curse under her breath.

“You know I’ll figure it out eventually. So, you should just tell me now.” When Kara doesn’t answer, Alex hums and picks up her plate of food. She doesn’t bring it up for the rest of their impromptu sister’s night, but she does keep thinking about what got her sister to agree to tour and perhaps endorse some company’s little project.

* * *

Alex is genuinely amazed that she doesn’t get Kara to crack. She spends the drive to the airport pestering her about it and then the entire duration of their flight to Costa Rica. But Kara does not crack, and if Alex weren’t so damn annoyed about that, maybe she’d congratulate her. However, she figures it out for herself about half a second after they climb into the helicopter that’ll take them out to the island, because sitting in one of the seats is none other than Lena Luthor.

Alex smirks. “I know why you agreed to come,” she says in a sing-songy voice.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Kara says, and she actually manages to sound aloof, but the faint yet familiar upward pull of her lips is enough of a confirmation for Alex. As is the way Kara practically pushes Alex out of the way so she can claim the seat beside Lena for herself.

Alex rolls her eyes as she takes the seat beside a woman she’s never met before, and who she’s just now realising is absolutely stunning. She does manage to collect her thoughts and say, “Alex Danvers,” while offering her hand to shake.

“Samantha Arias,” the woman says, shaking Alex’s hand, “but just Sam is fine.”

And before Alex has too much time to think, perhaps come up with some kind of witty response, she says, “Alright then Just Sam,” and she even follows the comment up with a grin and some finger guns. As soon as the words reach her ears, Alex cringes—

_Smooth. Real smooth, Danvers._

—and judging by the snickering coming from the girl – who can’t be older than fifteen – sitting on the other side of Sam, her comment didn’t go unheard.

Before Alex has a chance to make some kind of recovery from what just happened, the pilot announces that they’re about to take off, and that everyone needs to fasten their seatbelts.

* * *

“Kara Danvers,” Lena hums and looks Kara up and down, “I’m surprised to see you here.”

Kara tightens the seatbelt that goes across her lap with a single tug and flashes a crooked little grin at Lena. “Well, when I found out you’d be going, how could I refuse the offer?”

“Aren’t you sweet.” And then Lena smirks, and _maybe_ that mischievous smirk has an effect on Kara, just like how it _maybe_ always has. But Kara most certainly does feel something when Lena brushes her hand against Kara’s leg, covering up the gesture with the excuse that “These seats aren’t very roomy, are they?” and a sweet little smile that Kara can see the intent behind as clear as day. And then, she _moves_. She moves a fraction of an inch closer to Kara, so their legs are almost, _almost_ touching. Kara thinks this might be worse than if their legs were actually pressed together, because she’s just stewing in anticipation right now, and she _just knows_ Lena’s taking a great deal of pleasure in this.

Kara really wishes she’d opted to wear long pants instead of her favourite pair of cargo shorts. She’d be hot as hell in the humidity, but at least the hot she’d be wouldn’t be so _damn uncomfortable_.

* * *

Once they’re in the air, Kara’s so very glad that the woman beside Alex introduces herself and her daughter. It gives her something to focus on, and the two are an absolute delight, so Kara’s already considering this trip a win.

“Does anyone know what we’re going to see?” Sam says when there’s a lull in the conversation. She looks to everyone for some kind of answer, but all she gets are shrugs and just as confused looks. Even Lena doesn’t know what’s waiting for them on the island, which comes as a genuine surprise to Kara because in all the time she’s known her, Lena’s had an answer to everything.

“All I know is that it’s some biological preserve,” Kara says.

“I guess that explains why we’re all here,” Lena says, gesturing to herself, Kara, Alex and Sam. “Two palaeontologists, an entomologist, and a palaeobotanist.”

“Sounds like the start to a really bad joke,” Alex says, which gets a ripple of laughter to move through the helicopter, and Kara certainly doesn’t miss the proud little smile that makes its way across her sister’s face at getting Sam to laugh.

And then Ruby pipes up from her seat. “Well, you all study dinosaurs and other stuff from that time, right?” Everyone nods. “So, maybe this rich guy has a few dinosaurs running around his island.” It’s barely a second later that a smile splits across her face and she even starts to laugh because it’s such a ridiculous idea that she can’t take herself seriously.

* * *


	2. Isla Nublar

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Folks, I'm stoked that you liked the last chapter! Thanks for the comments and kudos. Also, I bumped the rating up, so just, access your comfort levels before reading.
> 
> Tumblr: [@just-some-girlll](https://just-some-girlll.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Happy reading :)

* * *

The helicopter lands and waiting on an access road, separated from the landing pad by a chain-link fence, are two idling open-top Jeeps, and Maxwell Lord looking very out of place with his Armani shoes, crisp suit, and black Wayfarers perched oh-so-carefully on the bridge of his nose.

Ruby is first out of the helicopter the very second it touches down, a wide grin on her face and phone grasped tightly in her hand as she runs to take pictures of everything around them. Sam is next out, chasing after Ruby and trying to keep a firm hand pressing her hat against her head lest it blow away. Alex jumps out then, taking in the towering mountains, waterfall, and lush forest around them, whistling in genuine amazement at what she sees. Kara tumbles out second to last, desperate to get some fresh air against her skin. It has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she just spent fifty-three _long minutes_ pressed up against Lena, with Lena brushing her hand against Kara’s leg every so often (on purpose might she add!) and not being able to do a _damn thing_ about it. _That_ has nothing to do with why she’s so hot. Nothing at all. It’s humid, alright? Humid and stuffy, and though it’s probably only 85, maybe 87 degrees, it feels like it’s closer to 95. When Lena climbs out last, Kara can hear a soft laugh coming from behind her, and sure enough, when she turns around, there’s Lena looking poised and collected and like she isn’t the least bit bothered.

“Hot?” Lena says, her voice low so only Kara can hear, and a wolfish little grin playing at her lips. And she doesn’t even wait for Kara to fumble out some kind of response, just turns away and starts walking over to Maxwell like it’s nothing! Like she hasn’t just made Kara an absolute _mess_ with the utterance of one simple word.

“Kara.” Alex shoves Kara’s shoulder with her own. “You alright there?”

“Hm? Oh, I’m fine. Perfectly fine. I am the very definition of fine. Some might even call me Dr Fine.”

Alex eyes her sister, brows furrowed, and after a moment says, “Alright then, _Dr Fine_. I think we’re leaving, so…” she hooks a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the idling Jeeps.

“Right, of course!”

* * *

The Jeeps take them along a series of winding, narrow access roads. Mountains and cliffs tower high above them, dense tropical forest surrounds them, and even over the rumble of the Jeeps, Kara can hear the soft steady trickling of a stream nearby. It’s rather nice.

After a short drive, they stop out front a motel of sorts. It’s small but has a nice charm to it; strangely reminiscent of any old motel in California, just, minus any glamour and with a whole lot more security measures. The twelve-foot-high fence that appears to surround the building strikes Kara as particularly odd, as do the, apparently, reinforced steel doors and barred windows.

_Seriously, what the fuck is this place?_

Maxwell Lord explains that this will be staff quarters once the park is fully operational, but due to an unfortunate incident involving a faulty pipe, the guest rooms are temporarily unavailable, so this is where they’ll spend the night. With the promise that he’ll return in an hour to commence the tour once everyone’s had time to settle in, Maxwell turns to leave.

“Before you go,” Sam quickly says, prompting Maxwell to spin back around on his heels, “you still haven’t told us what we’re all doing here.”

Maxwell looks to everyone in turn, a little smile on his face, like he’s proud that he knows something they don’t. “It’s something you have to see to really understand. I’ll be back in an hour.” And with that, he leaves.

* * *

Kara swipes the plastic key card on the reader; there’s a distinct metallic _click_ that follows and then she’s able to push the door open and reveal quite a simple and tight room. There’s a twin bed pushed up against one wall, a kitchenette in the corner, and a desk below the only window in the room. It smells sterile, almost like a hospital, and the carpet is that cheap stuff that is in no way soft and feels horribly coarse against your bare feet.

She kicks the door shut behind her, drops her bag by the foot of the bed, and drops face-first onto the bed. After a moment, she rolls over onto her back and stares up at the ceiling, picking up the loose strand of hair that’s fallen over her face and braiding it, so her hands have something to do. It takes a moment, but then Kara realises… she’s alone. She can take care of what was making her so uncomfortable before, of what _still is_. She’s got an hour to kill and nothing to do so…

Kara drops her half-finished braid and lets her hand drift down her body until it’s hovering just over her belt buckle. However, before she has a chance to do anything, there’s a knock at the door. The knock is familiar though. And distinct. So, before Kara’s even opened the door, she knows who’s standing on the other side.

“Lena,” Kara greets with a smile as she leans against the door frame, and she has to make a very conscious effort to not let her eyes drift down Lena’s body, “what can I do for you?”

But the smile Lena shoots at Kara is enough of an answer. Between all the conferences and conventions, they’ve both been down this path enough times to know what’s going to happen. Kara’s going to invite Lena inside, and Lena will accept with a smile as she steps through the doorway, oftentimes pulling Kara by her jacket or arm or – and keep in mind that this last one will happen so sparsely it’ll make a blue moon look like an ordinary occurrence – she’ll take her hand. Between hard kisses and laboured breaths, they’ll make quick work of their clothes, and then, well, to put it simply, they fuck.

It’s an agreement they have, a standing appointment if you will, and it’s one that’s been going on for years now. It started back in the early days of their post-graduate work when they met at a mixer hosted by a handful of universities, and it served a purpose then, just like it does now. Lena had been fresh out of a relationship, and Kara really had no interest in starting anything serious with someone, so their arrangement worked nicely. Whenever they were in the same city, whether that be for a conference or some other obligation, they’d meet up and help each other out. The arrangement worked then, and it still does now… sort of. The relationship itself remains unchanged since its conception, but Kara’s feelings have become… complicated, and perhaps that’s why she was so eager to go on this trip once she found out Lena would be going too: they need to talk.

What happens next is different though. Lena pulls Kara in by her shirt collar and kisses her, which isn’t a problem, Kara loves kissing Lena, but they’re standing in the doorway. Where anyone can just walk by. And they haven’t talked.

Kara knows she should pull away—

_They need to talk damnit!_

—but she doesn’t. Kara matches Lena’s enthusiasm and pulls her into the room before kicking the door shut and pinning Lena up against it. She pulls away from Lena’s mouth and trails kisses along her jaw and down her neck, stopping to bite down and _suck_.

“Dr Danvers, you seem _very_ enthusiastic.” Lena twists her hands through Kara’s hair and tugs. “Is something bothering you?” She smirks like she knows exactly what Kara had been about to do before she knocked on the door.

Kara pulls back and holds Lena’s line of sight, letting her hand slowly travel down Lena’s body before dipping below the waistband of her pants. Kara lets her hand rest between Lena’s thighs, just against her underwear, not moving, only feeling, and then she _grins_. “Could say the same about you.” She moves her hand carefully, just enough for Lena to notice but not nearly enough to give her any kind of release. “Did you start without me?”

Lena, never one to waver or back down, holds Kara’s gaze too even though she feels like she’s burning and that she’s shattering at the seams. She drops one hand from Kara’s hair down to grab hold of Kara’s hand in her pants. She moves her underwear aside and easily pushes three fingers inside, sucking in a sharp breath, tossing her head back, and toes curling.

And then Kara starts to move her hand, only slowly at first, but it doesn’t take long for her to set a quick and familiar pace. As Kara watches Lena, she remembers that they need to talk. And perhaps right this very second isn’t the ideal time to have that talk, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t, right? Kara begins to slow her hand, and Lena pulls on Kara’s hair, a silent way of saying _don’t you dare stop_.

“So, um, what’s the deal, y’know, with us?”

Lena huffs and blows a loose strand of hair from her face. “You want to have that conversation _now_?”

“Well, when should I bring it up?”

“I don’t know.” Lena huffs and tries to garner some kind of release from moving against Kara’s hand. She groans and tosses her head back against the door when she _just can’t get the right fucking angle_. “How about when you don’t have three fucking fingers knuckle deep inside me.” As soon as the words leave her mouth, Lena realises she may have been too abrasive. She looks at Kara and smiles, and really hopes that Kara can see the sincerity behind it. “Sorry.” She pushes a loose strand of hair behind Kara’s ear. “We’ll talk.”

“Yeah?”

Lena nods and seals the promise with a firm kiss to Kara’s lips. “Later though, because I do believe you were in the middle of something,” she says when she pulls back.

“Was I?” Kara smirks, playing innocent, but still makes a point to move her fingers just enough to get Lena’s attention but leave her _needing_ more. The look Lena sends her in response is enough of a warning for Kara to get a move on. It’s one she’s become all too familiar with over the years, and she knows that Lena will get her back if she doesn’t get to it. And ever diligent Kara does just that. She picks up right where she left off, her movements hard and quick, and if the way Lena’s breathing is laboured and that she’s clutching to Kara’s shoulder, nails digging in and leaving little crescent indentations, is any indication, then Kara thinks she did the right thing.

Now Lena’s breath is becoming more ragged, her grip is loosening, and Kara can feel the way Lena’s tightening around her fingers. Another few deep thrusts, hitting that spot that always gets Lena to unravel.

Kara feels more than hears what happens next. Sure, she’s peripherally aware of the deep sigh that slips through Lena’s lips, and that Lena says something along the lines of "you are really fucking good at that," albeit, a little more winded, but she _feels_ the way Lena’s entire body relaxes against her own, and Kara has to readjust her grip to keep them both from tumbling to the ground. Kara’s not sure why she likes that so much – getting to support Lena like this. That's a lie, she does _know why_ , she’s known for years now, but it’s just— it’s easier to pretend that she doesn’t know, because then she can delude herself into thinking that it’s nothing. It does work, only for a little while though, but a girl can hope, right?

After she’s had a moment to catch her breath and regain her ability to stand without assistance, Lena’s grinning, eyes dark. She plants a kiss to Kara’s lips and pushes her back through the room, and when Kara tumbles back onto the bed, Lena climbs up and straddles her hips. She leans in, their lips so close, and into the almost non-existent space between them, she whispers, “My turn.”

* * *

True to his word, Maxwell returns an hour later, and everyone climbs into the Jeeps; Kara and Lena sitting in the back of the first one with Maxwell in the passenger seat, and Alex, Sam and Ruby in the second one.

As the Jeeps roar along the winding and narrow dirt roads, Maxwell turns in his seat to better face Kara and Lena. “We’ll be making a quick stop. There’s something I want the both of you to see. I think you may enjoy it.”

Kara and Lena share a quick look, both a little more than curious.

Meanwhile, in the rear Jeep, Sam stares up at the thick tropical plant life around them. She tilts her head when a particular overhanging branch catches her eye, as if something’s not quite right. She reaches her hand out and grabs hold of the leafy branch, tearing it from the tree as the Jeep zooms by.

They veer down another path and the lush tropical forest begins the thin until they’re driving through a hilly field with forty-foot-tall trees sparingly scattered around. Under Maxwell’s instructions, the Jeeps begin to slow atop one hill in particular.

Caught up in her examination of the leaf, Sam doesn’t notice when the Jeeps come to a halt along the hilly field. She runs her hands over the leaf, making note of the slight fuzz along its surface. And she handles the leaf with care, as though afraid that being too rough will cause it to disappear.

“This isn’t right,” Sam says, still staring at the leaf and taking no note in what everyone else is now looking at.

“Mom,” Ruby says in a bit of a haze, jaw going slack as she looks up and climbs to stand on her seat, shaking her mother’s shoulder.

“This… this shouldn’t be here. This species has been extinct since the— since the cretaceous period. It—”

“Mom, stop playing with the leaves and _look_.”

Whatever Sam was about to say dies on her tongue when Ruby grabs her by the arm and forces her to look up. “It’s a— a—” she drops the leaf, climbs to her feet and stands on her seat, eyes never once wavering from the creature before her.

“A dinosaur, Mom. It’s a dinosaur.”

_And yeah… that’s a fucking dinosaur._

Sam looks over at Alex, maybe not quite trusting her eyes and hoping that another adult can help her make sense of this, because _that’s a dinosaur_ and _this should be impossible!_

“A dinosaur,” Alex mumbles, looking up at the magnificent creature.

No one says anything for the longest time, too enthralled in the sight before them: a Brachiosaurus standing on its hind legs, chewing the branches at the top of the tree. It towers above them, and when it drops back down onto all fours, the Jeeps shake, and Sam almost loses her footing on the seat.

“I was right,” Ruby says, stunned, a wide uncontrollable smile beginning to spread across her face. “I was right! I was fucking right!”

“Ruby!” Sam hisses, “Language.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Ruby says, but her smile remains and there’s a twinkle in her eyes as she stares up at the creature. “I was fucking right,” she says again, this time under her breath so no one else can hear, and a proud little smile on her face.

* * *


	3. Welcome to Jurassic Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter, folks – apologies for the wait - I do hope ya' like it! Thanks for the kudos and all the comments on the last two chapters, I've had a grand ol' time reading them!
> 
> Tumblr: [@just-some-girlll](https://just-some-girlll.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Happy reading :)

* * *

Kara and Lena fumble their way out of the Jeep so they’re standing on the hill, looking up at the Brachiosaurus, their legs shaky and unsteady. Lena reaches her hand out to Kara’s shoulder and squeezes, both as a way to test that this is real and not some hallucination, and to make sure that Kara’s looking at the dinosaur. _The fucking dinosaur!_

Maxwell follows them out of the Jeep far more composed than the two palaeontologists, however. He stands just behind them, hands clasped behind his back and looking proud and just a tiny bit smug. “What do you think?” he says, bouncing on the balls of feet.

Without looking back, Kara says, “It’s— it’s, ah…”

“Amazing,” Lena says softly, unable to tear her eyes away.

The Brachiosaurus looks down at everyone gathered on the hill before it turns and begins to walk away, the ground shaking a little with every step. And it’s this very second that Kara realises they were all wrong about their movement. The Brachiosaurus is light on its feet, traversing the hillside with ease and familiarity, a far cry from the sluggish, lumbering brutes she was expecting. She takes steps forward, hesitant at first, following the dinosaur from a distance.

“That’s a dinosaur!” Kara shouts, glancing back at Maxwell and Lena, pointing up at the creature and almost vibrating with excitement. It’s like she’s a child again, only just discovering all the little wonders of life and she wants to make sure everyone else knows about them. “And— and, look at its movement! Look at how agile it is!”

“We clocked the T-rex at thirty-two miles an hour,” Maxwell says, and there’s a smile on his face now, smug, like he’s just waiting for Kara and Lena to process the meaning of his words. It takes less than a second.

“You’ve got a T-rex?” Kara looks over at Lena, a smile so wide and bright on her face. “Did you hear that? He’s got a _T-rex_!”

Lena can’t quite believe what’s happening, and so she’s standing on the hill, looking between an excited Kara and a smug Maxwell, waiting for everything to connect, waiting for everything to actually _feel_ _real_.

“Dr Danvers, Dr Luthor, welcome to Jurassic Park.”

* * *

Everyone fires questions at Maxwell after the Brachiosaurus leaves to re-join its herd, and he doesn’t answer a single one of them. He stands there, arms cross behind is back and smirking, simply saying that “everything will be explained in due time.” And with that, they all climb back into the Jeeps and make the short journey to the main compound.

The Jeeps emerge from the jungle and stop out front an impressive structure surrounded by two fences, the outer of which appears to be close to twenty feet high. The Jeeps come to a stop and everyone follows Maxwell into the unfinished visitor’s centre. The ceiling is high and conical in shape, a skylight at the very top allowing sunlight to pour into the space and illuminate the Tyrannosaurus rex skeleton below it. There are several corridors branching off in all directions, smaller fossils located against the walls, and a staircase that could lead to just about anywhere. Maxwell disappears through an access door, explaining that he needs to make some final preparations and that he won’t be long.

Alex takes the opportunity to visit the bathroom located to the left of the entrance, Kara busies herself by reading the plaques located below the fossils around the perimeter of the room, and Lena stands below the skeleton, dwarfed by its size, as she studies it.

“So, what do you make of all this?” Sam says, sliding up to Lena.

“That I’m out of a job.”

Ruby pops in between them and says, “I s’pose you could say that you’ll be extinct.”

That gets a laugh from Lena and Sam.

Moments later, Maxwell returns and ushers everyone through the access door and leads them through a series of corridors until they emerge in a room, one wall made entirely of glass overlooking a large, open and clean room.

“This is the hatchery,” Maxwell explains, “It’s where we make the specimens. Have a look.” He gestures to the window, inviting everyone to step closer.

“Make?” Sam says.

“That’s correct. Every animal on this island was made in our labs.”

“Except the ones that were born in the wild,” Kara says more in passing because it’s so obvious. She’s focused on watching an egg in one of the nearby nests that’s shaking, like it’s going to hatch. “Are we able to get any closer?”

“No. Workplace health and safety,” he explains. “And they can’t breed in the wild.”

That gets everyone’s attention.

“Population control is one of our security precautions here. There’s no unauthorised breeding in Jurassic Park.”

“That’s not something you can really control,” Alex, this time, says.

“Of course, it is. If you know what you’re doing, you can do just about anything. Every specimen in my facility is female. We engineered them that way.”

“Right, I guess what I should’ve said is that it’s something you _shouldn’t_ be controlling.”

Maxwell crosses his arms. “You’re not impressed.”

“Oh, I’m impressed. The kind of science you’re doing here is ground-breaking—”

“So, what’s your problem?”

“ _My problem_ is that the kind of control you’re attempting here isn’t possible. If there’s one thing that evolution has taught us, it’s that life will not be contained.”

“Are you implying that a group composed entirely of females will breed?” He smirks.

“I’m simply saying that life finds a way.”

Maxwell studies Alex for a moment before humming and turning his attention elsewhere. “Dr Luthor, you’ve been awfully quiet. What do you think?”

“I completely agree with Dr Danvers here,” Lena nods to Alex, “What you’ve done _is_ incredible, but I don’t think you’ve considered all the variables. You’ve built some fences and walls and stuck a few dinosaurs in there, but how much can you really know about an extinct ecosystem, and therefore, how can you expect to control it?”

“There’s obviously many hours of research that goes into constructing each animal’s enclosure.”

“Really?” Sam says, stepping forward a little and in no way looking like she believes Maxwell. “You have plants right here in this building that are poisonous. Did you know that? You’ve picked them, or someone has, because they look pretty. I sincerely hope that more care has been shown in developing the enclosures.”

“These dinosaurs you’ve created are aggressive living things that have no idea what century they’re living in. They’ll defend themselves. Violently, if necessary,” Lena says.

Exasperated, Maxwell turns to Kara who’s currently staring through the window next to Ruby, watching the eggs. “Dr Danvers, surely you can appreciate what we’re doing here.”

Kara spins around, caught a little off guard. “I feel… elated and… frightened and… I dunno. I don’t want to jump to any conclusions but… dinosaurs and humans – two species separated by sixty-five million years of evolution – have just been thrown together. How can any of us have the faintest idea of what to expect?”

Maxwell’s about to speak, but Ruby cuts him off. “Hey, you guys, it’s finally hatching!”

Everyone spins back to the window, watching small fractures appearing on the shell’s surface. The fractures then turn into full cracks. And then, a baby dinosaur appears, trying to get out of the shell. One of the scientists working in the lab comes over to the nest and carefully helps the baby dinosaur out, and as soon as the dinosaur is out, there’s a flash of recognition on Kara and Lena’s face. They share a look.

“What species is that?” Kara says.

“A velociraptor I believe.”

“You breed raptors?”

* * *

Maxwell leads the group out of the visitor’s centre and to a large and heavily fortified cage of sorts. As they’re approaching, a crane roars to life, hoisting a cow that’s strapped into a harness, up. They watch this from a distance for a moment, before climbing to the observation deck that looks down into the cage.

“What are they doing?” Ruby says, watching the crane move the cow so it’s dangling over the enclosure. There’s a hideous _clang_ and then the cow is being slowly lowered.

“Ruby, turn around and cover your ears,” Sam says, knowing full well what’s about to happen, even going as far as turning Ruby around herself and holding her in place.

The cow disappears into the shroud of foliage that fills the cage. For a moment, there’s nothing. No movement. No noise. Nothing. And then, the crane line jerks like a fishing rod finally getting a nibble. A pause—

A worker shouts something several yards behind the group, but it’s all background noise, irrelevant. Even though the pause is brief, barely a second long, the tension is thick, palpable, almost like it’s a person standing right there on that observation deck, waiting for something to happen.

—and then a frenzy. The line jerks every which way. A mangled cry of pain from the cow. Trees tremor and crack. There’s a cacophony of growling, snapping, and wet crunches. And then, just as suddenly as everything started, it stops. No movement. No noise. Nothing.

The crane whirs back to life, raising the cable out of the raptor pen. The end portion of the cable emerges from the enclosure. The cow is gone, leaving only the tattered, bloody harness. And as everyone tracks the remains of the harness with slack jaws and mild horror written clear as day across their face, Maxwell looks at it like he’s a proud parent.

“Magnificent creatures, aren’t they?” Maxwell says. “Anyway,” he claps, “on with the tour.”

* * *

The group scramble to keep up with Maxwell as he leads them from the velociraptor cage and back to the visitor’s centre, questions burning on their lips and Maxwell only answering with “We’re running a bit behind schedule, I’ll address your questions after the tour.” That does little to appease the group, and so Lena jumps in front of Maxwell, forcing him to stop.

“If we’re about to go on this little tour of yours, I think we deserve to know how this is all possible,” Lena says, gesturing widely to the park and waiting for a satisfactory answer.

Maxwell reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of keys, held together with an unusual keyring. It’s yellow in colour and seems to glow in the little amount of sunlight that peeks through the clouds. “Amber,” he says, “and inside is a perfectly persevered Culicidae, more commonly known as—”

“A mosquito,” Alex says, stepping forward to get a better look. “You extracted persevered dinosaur blood from the mosquito, and used the DNA stored in the blood.”

“Remarkable, isn’t it? There were of course gaps in the DNA that we had to fix, but since most animal DNA is ninety per cent identical, we used the complete DNA of a frog to fill in the blanks.”

Though the response does little to sate everyone’s desire for answers, they’re prepared to take what they can get at this point, resigning themselves to just piecing things together for themselves as the tour progresses. And so, they continue on with their walk back to the visitor’s centre. When the building comes back into view, two modified Ford Explorers leap out of an underground garage beneath the centre. They move almost silently, with a faint electric hum, and straddle a partially buried metal rail in the middle of the dirt road.

“Love the colours,” Lena says, nodding to the cars and taking in the bright green, yellow and red paint.

Maxwell ignores the comment. “The cars are completely automated. They’ll take you around the park and stop at a few enclosures. If you have any questions or something’s wrong, there’s a green button located on the centre console of each car. Just hold it down and talk into the radio, we’ll be watching and listening from the control room. And for safety purposes, it’s only four people to a car. So, unless there are more questions… No? Excellent.”

A moment later, he’s gone, leaving Kara, Lena, Alex, Sam and Ruby alone on the road, standing beside the brightly painted cars.

* * *

Something which comes as absolutely no surprise to Alex, is the fact that Kara follows Lena over to one of the cars. Ruby’s already run on ahead to the other car, climbing into what would be the driver’s seat, and eagerly waiting for the tour to commence.

“Mind if I join you and Ruby? I think I’d just be third-wheeling in that car.” Alex nods to the front car where Kara and Lena are currently sitting.

Sam smiles and laughs softly. “Oh, I know what you mean. With all the flirting and eye-fucking, I wouldn’t want to be in that car either.”

“Okay, first, _gross_. Did you have to say that?”

Sam laughs and brushes her hand against Alex’s arm. A soft smile spreads across Alex’s face and she can feel a familiar warmth lingering on her arm from where Sam touched it, just like when—

 _No, you need to stop doing this to yourself_.

Alex shakes the feeling off and brings her attention back to the moment. “So, you see it too then! I’ve been telling Kara to ask her out.”

Sam quirks her head. “I think they’re a little bit ahead of that.”

Now it’s Alex’s turn to be confused. “What?”

“That little" —Sam waves her hand around, searching for the answer— “arrangement? I have no idea what Lena’s calling it now. Regardless, whatever they’re doing, I think they’re past the point of dating.”

“What’re you talking about?”

“They hook-up whenever they’re in the same city,” Sam says so matter-of-factly, like those words together in that sentence are completely normal, like she hasn’t just dropped an anvil on Alex’s head.

In barely a second, Alex’s confused face morphs into mild horror. “Gross! I did not need to hear _that_.”

“Shit,” Sam’s eyes go wide in genuine surprise and remorse, “you didn’t know?”

“No! Of course, I didn’t know! I thought Kara was too scared to make a move.”

There’s a wicked little smile that spreads across Sam’s face then. “She’s not. In fact, from what I’ve heard, she’s actually—”

Alex clamps her hands over her ears and sings loud enough to drown Sam out, only stopping and uncovering her ears when she’s sure Sam won’t finish that sentence. “Okay, that’s enough. I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Sam laughs and begins walking over to the car. “Come on,” she calls back to Alex, “wouldn’t want these cars to leave without you.”

Alex smiles, feeling that familiar… she can’t quite pinpoint what she’s feeling actually, but it’s something familiar yet strangely foreign. Whatever it is, she decides to leave it be for now, as she jogs up to the car.

“Are you coming with us?” Ruby asks.

“If that’s alright with you.”

“Yes! You can sit in the front.”

“You mean you don’t want me, your mother, to sit in the front with you?” Sam says, putting on a front of feigned offence, but the smile she’s wearing is enough of an indication that she’s not offended at all.

“Um, yeah,” Ruby says, sounding like the answer is so obvious, but smiling and clearly doing a lot to bite back her smile.

And as Alex watches the interaction between Sam and Ruby, and the ensuing laughter that erupts moments later from the pair, she thinks that maybe Kara was right. Maybe this trip will be good for her.

* * *

“Mind if I join you?” Kara says, jogging up to Lena.

“Not at all.” Lena flashes a sweet smile. “No funny business though. We’re working, remember?”

“No funny business.” Kara nods, even holds her hands up in surrender before jogging ahead and opening the car door for Lena. “Promise. Scouts honour.”

Lena eyes her for a moment, suspicious, before climbing into the car and letting Kara close the door.

It’s a few moments later that an automated voice crackles to life through the car’s two-way intercom, announcing that the tour will begin in a moment and that everyone needs to fasten their seatbelts and remain inside the car for the duration of the tour.

And then, with smooth efficiency and a low hum, the cars move forward along the road, and the large sunroof in each of the cars gives an almost perfect view of the lush forest the surrounds them. Soon enough, the cars approach a large gate – probably fifteen feet high – that’s slightly primitive in its design, but certainly adds to the novelty of the park. Torches situated at the top of each of the stone pillars on either side of the gate, blaze to life as the cars pass through the gate and into Jurassic Park.

* * *


	4. The Storm (part i)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we are, folks - another chapter! Thanks so much for all the kudos on the last three chapters - it puts a real big smile on my face when I see you folks enjoying the story. ALSO, thanks for all the comments too; I've had plenty of fun reading them! And, you may notice that I've bumped this story up to seven chapters, which is a little exciting, so I do hope you're happy about that.
> 
> Tumblr: [@just-some-girlll](https://just-some-girlll.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Happy reading :)

* * *

The cars crawl along the dirt road, and the low hum, coupled with the occasional chirp of a bird, and the gentle trickling of a nearby river, make for quite a relaxing experience. And as they’re about to pass through a short tunnel that cuts through the mountain, Sam spots a sign that reads ‘TRAVEL BY FOOT BEYOND THIS POINT IS STRICTLY PROHIBTED.’ It sends a short shiver up her spine and maybe, just maybe, there’s some lingering regret about going on this trip.

As soon as they’re out of the short tunnel, fifteen-foot fences and retaining walls covered in vines and moss come into view. Some tree branches are peeking over the walls and fences, and it comes as no surprise to Sam that these trees don’t look at all native to the island or the time in which these creatures would have been alive. She does take solace in the fact that they aren’t poisonous, though she doubts the same can be said for the flora deeper within the enclosures.

The cars come to a slow and gradual stop at one particular enclosure and then that same automated voice comes to life.

“On the left, you will see one of the earliest predatory dinosaurs. The Dilophosaurus,” the voice says, and Ruby’s already pressing her face up against the window, her breath fogging up the glass.

Sam smiles and snaps a photo of Ruby before leaning over to get a better look herself.

“Can you see it?” Alex says, craning her neck and straining her eyes.

“No,” Ruby drops back into her seat and flips through the little information pamphlet that came in the glove compartment. She stops when she finds the section about the Dilophosaurus. It doesn’t give her a whole lot of information, mostly what they’re believed to have fed on and where they lived.

Alex drops back too and rummages through the glove compartment in search of a snack. But Sam continues to study the enclosure. It’s still, eerily so, the only movement being that of the long grass and bushes caused by the wind. And as the cars begin moving forward again, small drops of rain falling against the windows, Sam thinks she sees something move out of the corner of her eye.

* * *

Watching from the darkened control room that looks like some attempt at duplicating NASA’s mission control room, Maxwell stands, arms crossed and studying the screens displayed on the wall.

“Where the fuck was that dinosaur?!” Maxwell shouts to no one in particular.

There’s no reply, only the familiar _click_ ing of fingers dancing across keyboards.

“I pay you all to ensure tours run smoothly! So, for the sake of your jobs, make sure there’s some activity at their next stop!”

A moment passes, and then someone else speaks, one of the senior park operators, and the ID card dangling on a lanyard around his neck, reads Winslow Schott. “Um, Sir?”

“What?” Maxwell spins to face Winn, his tone short.

“We picked up a Category 5 hurricane a few miles west.”

“Will it hit us?” Maxwell says though it doesn’t sound like he particularly cares, eyes still glued to the large screens at the front of the room.

“It looks like it’s travelling north-west, so we think it’ll go right past us—”

“Excellent.”

“—but we’re expecting to get some heavy rain within the next hour. It might interrupt our ability to control the park for a few hours. I would advise bringing those people in.” Winn nods to the screens.

Maxwell spins to face Winn, his face contorted in annoyance and frustration. “Do you have any idea how much I have hinging on this tour going well?” His voice is eerily calm.

Winn doesn’t answer.

“I didn’t think so. See, my investors will pull out of this project if they" —he gestures to the screens— “don’t like what they see. I cannot afford to cancel this tour. Clear?”

Winn nods.

“Good. And besides, it’ll be helpful to see if our systems can withstand a little rain, won’t it?”

Winn nods again.

“Get back to work.” Winn returns to his desk, and Maxwell stands tall again, looking at the screens with a pleased smile. “Unless you all want to find new jobs, there’d better be some activity at their next stop.”

* * *

The two Explorers drive along a high ridge and stop at the edge of a large, open field, separated from the road by a trench and a fifteen-foot fence, and judging by the abundance of danger signs along the fence, Lena’s willing to bet that it’s electrified.

That same automated voice drones on, but Kara and Lena really aren’t paying it any attention.

“The mighty Tyrannosaurus arose late—”

“Can we turn that thing off?” Lena says.

Kara fumbles her hand over the centre console and flips a switch. The automated voice dies. “Better?”

Lena hums, eyes fixed on the enclosure.

Much like their last stop, there’s no activity in this enclosure.

“You see anything?” Kara says.

“No. You?”

“No.” Kara slumps back into her seat. “Damn. Kinda wanted to see a T-rex before I died.”

“Kara, you’re a palaeontologist. You’ve seen one before.”

“Yeah but…”

“You want to see the real one,” Lena says, the corners of her lips pulling up in amusement.

“Don’t try and tell me you don’t! I know you’re just as excited about this as I am.”

Lena shrugs. “I do still have my doubts about this place.”

“So do I, but I really want to try enjoy it. If this does all work out, it might foster a genuine passion for palaeontology in kids. Think about how great that could be.”

“I suppose you have a point.”

“Are you _agreeing_ with me?” Kara says, sounding amused and just a tiny bit surprised.

“I said that you have a point,” Lena says, pursing her lips to hide her smile and keeping her eyes decidedly _away_ from Kara.

“Which means you agree with me.” And now Kara’s flashing her a little crooked grin, that same grin that Lena absolutely loves— wait! No. Not loves. Likes. That grin that Lena _likes_. She doesn’t love it, can’t love it, because loving something _about_ Kara will undoubtedly lead to _loving Kara_ , which would be messy and complicated and would never work out. She likes Kara, is certainly attracted to her, but that’s it. It’s purely physical. Just sex, remember?

“You’re annoying.”

Kara leans forward a little, that same grin still plastered across her face. “Do you remember the last time you said that to me,” she says, her voice low.

And Lena gulps because she does remember. It was the last time they saw each other, sometime back in the beginning of February when they’d both gone to a conference about diversifying the field of palaeontology, something they’re both deeply passionate about. They’d made eyes at each from across the room and by the night’s end, Kara had pulled Lena up to her room and shown her _exactly_ how annoying she can be.

“We’re working,” Lena says, and she amazes herself in her ability to string together a comprehensible sentence. The fact that the sentence is only two words is irrelevant, alright? It still counts as a sentence.

“Right. Sorry.” Kara backs away.

There’s a low humming sound that comes then, and Lena’s head snaps over to the enclosure, she grabs Kara’s shoulder and urges her to look too.

“What’s that?”

“I have no idea.” Lena leans forward.

Out in the middle of the field, a small cage rises up from underground. The cage bars slide down, leaving the cage’s lone occupant – a goat – standing completely unguarded in the middle of the field. It’s chained to a stake and looks around, confused.

“A goat?” Lena furrows her brows and shakes her head. “The T-rex doesn’t want to be fed. It wants to hunt. You can’t suppress sixty-five million years of gut instinct.”

“It certainly looks like they’re trying to.”

The goat waits. And waits. Nothing. It tugs on its chain. Walks back and forth, nervous. It bleats. And then it lays down.

The cars roll on.

And as the cars move along the dirt road, stopping at two more enclosures, not a single dinosaur comes into view. The enclosures are still, seemingly void of any carbon-based life, and Lena can’t shake the feeling that something is wrong. The only thing that really seems to be happening is the sun setting in the west and dark grey clouds rolling in.

* * *

“Sir?” The same park operator from before – Winn – says.

Maxwell spins on him, his face fuming. “ _What?_ ”

“You might want to think about calling the cars in.”

“No shit sherlock! I spend all this money and time on bringing dinosaurs back to life, and not a single one shows itself when it matters?!”

Winn doesn’t answer right away, unsure of what to say. He clears his throat after a moment and says, “Well, the hurricane that I mentioned before, it’s changed course.”

“Will it hit us?”

“Unlikely—”

“What’s the problem then?”

“The storm, sir. We’re going to get a lot of rain and a lot of wind. It’s very likely that we’ll lose control of the park.”

“The fences won’t go down, will they?”

“Only if we redirect all non-essential power to keeping them online. I just need you to verify the command.”

Maxwell sighs and drops his head, pinching the bridge of his nose, thinking. “Fine. Whatever. Bring them in then. Not like this can get much worse anyway,” he mutters the last part while walking away.

* * *

The cars come to a sudden stop in the middle of the road, jolting Alex forward, and because she wasn’t wearing a seatbelt – because “Who needs a seatbelt when the cars are going under three miles an hour?” – hits her head on the dash.

“What the—” Alex rubs her forehead.

The voice that chimes in through the speakers isn’t the same automated voice from before. This one sounds human. “Sorry, folks. There’s a storm on the way so we’re cancelling the tour and bringing you back in.” Then the cars start back up, except this time, going in reverse.

As the minutes creep by, and the cars are slowly rolled back, the rain and wind begin to pick up. The sun has long since dipped below the horizon, the only source of light being the car’s headlights and a few light posts near the road.

“This place sure is creepy at night,” Alex says, looking out the window.

Sam hums. “I’d hate to get trapped out here overnight.”

* * *

Ruby, having switched places with Sam some time ago, stretches out across the entire back seat of the car, paying little mind to what’s going on, and staring up through the sunroof, watching the rain drum down against the car in a monotonously dry pattern.

The cars stop again, and Alex and Sam are expecting the speaker to crackle to life. It doesn’t. Sam leans forward, pushes a few buttons and twists a few nobs, but still, nothing happens.

“Strange,” Sam says, distracted, as she fiddles with the controls.

“Speaker isn’t working?” Alex leans in a little to get a better look.

“Yeah. Doesn’t even look like the radio’s working either.”

The headlights are the next to go, quickly followed by the light posts stationed along the road, leaving them in darkness.

“Well, that can’t be good,” Alex says.

“No.”

Minutes pass and Ruby’s boredom grows. She sits up and begins rummaging through the crates in the back of the car. She finds a pair of what look to be heavy-duty safety goggles. She places the goggles on her head and fiddles with the knobs and switches on the back of the goggles. “Check it out – night-vision goggles.” She strikes a goofy pose for Alex and Sam. “What’d you think?”

“That they’re probably expensive,” Sam says, “Put them back, please.”

When Sam looks away, Alex gives Ruby a thumbs up.

Completely ignoring Sam, and with a grin on her face, Ruby crawls into the very back of the car and begins looking around. There’s not much to look at, Ruby quickly realises, though she does see that they’ve stopped at one of the enclosures they visited earlier.

“Hey, I think we’re at the—” Ruby cuts herself off. She can feel something.

“What was that Rubes?” Sam says, a little distracted.

“Shh.” Ruby tosses the goggles off and crawls into the backseat, leaning over the centre console between Alex and Sam. “Can you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

And as if on cue: _THUD. THUD. THUD._

Ruby focuses on the plastic cups of water that sit in the recessed holes on the dashboard. As she watches, the water in the cups vibrate, making concentric circles. Then it stops. And then it vibrates again. Almost like—

_THUD. THUD. THUD._

“Maybe it’s the power trying to come back on?” Sam says, though she knows that’s not at all true.

Ruby jumps into the back seat and pulls the goggles back over her head. She looks out the window again and can see where the goat is tethered… or rather _was_ tethered. The chain is still there, swinging a little in the wind, but the goat is gone.

“The goat’s gone,” Ruby says as she crawls back.

“What’d you mean gone?” Sam says.

“I mean it’s gone. _Look_.” Ruby pushes the goggles into her mother’s hands, and, a little reluctantly, Sam pulls them on.

After a moment, Alex says, “Well?”

And all Sam can do is take the goggles off and pass them to Alex, who puts them on and searches the enclosure for the goat. Of course, she doesn’t find it.

“It’s gone,” Alex says, taking the goggles off.

“But where’d it go?”

Silence lingers in the car. They all know what happened to the goat – whether they want to admit it or not – but no one’s willing to say it.

_BANG!_

They all jump as something hits the Plexiglass sunroof, _hard_. They look up. It’s a bloody and mangled goat leg.

Ruby sucks in a sharp breath and takes the night vision goggles from Alex’s loose grip. She pulls them back over her head and looks up through the sunroof. Her mouth drops open, but no sound comes out. Through the goggles, she sees a claw, a huge one, gripping the cables of, what’s supposed to be, an electrified fence. She whips the goggles off, her breathing coming out laboured.

A crack of lightning illuminates the dark sky for a split second, and in that split second, Ruby finally sees _it_. The Tyrannosaurus rex. It stands maybe twenty-five feet high, forty feet long from nose to tail, with an enormous, box-like head that has to be _at least_ five feet long on its own. The remains of the goat hang out of the T-rex’s mouth. It tilts its head back and swallows the goat in one swift motion.

“Found the goat,” Ruby says, and maybe she says it in a poor attempt at humour to lighten the mood, or because she just doesn’t know what else to say, _because what the fuck are you supposed to say to something like that?_

The T-rex pushes against the fence, the cables straining and buckling beneath its weight. There’s a horrifying _crack_ that Ruby feels more than hears.

And then the cables snap.

* * *


	5. The Storm (part ii)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's another chapter for you wonderful folks! I do apologise that there was a bit of a delay - uni's just been kicking my ass lately. Anyhow, I do hope ya' like it, and thanks heaps for all the comments and kudos - stoked to see so many of you are enjoying this little story!
> 
> Tumblr: [@just-some-girlll](https://just-some-girlll.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Happy reading :)

* * *

“We should, um… press the ahh… press the green button. Right?” Kara says, stunned, staring up the T-rex.

“What?”

“The green button? We were told to, um, press it if anything went… wrong.”

Lena, somehow, manages to tear her gaze away from the T-rex and look at Kara with an expression that can only really be described as horrified confusion. They _should_ press the green button, Lena knows this, but this – and by ‘this’ she means _the fucking T-rex out of the enclosure_ – doesn’t seem like the kind of ‘wrong’ Maxwell Lord had been talking about. In fact, Lena’s willing to wager her life savings that the escaped T-rex warrants a bit more cause for alarm than simply pressing a green fucking button. But it doesn’t look like they have a lot of options because – did I mention? – _the fucking T-rex escaped!_

And so, Lena presses the button, holds it down and waits for the voice of some bored, underpaid, underappreciated, worker to chime through.

Nothing comes.

She hits the button again, this time with a little more force, and still, nothing happens. There’s no voice that comes through the speaker, not even some too-cheery automated voice asking for Lena to please wait and that someone will be right with her. There’s nothing.

“It’s not working,” is all Lena can say, pressing the button again and again despite knowing that it won’t yield a goddamn thing.

“Um, Lena…” Kara tugs on Lena’s arm, urges her to forget about the button and look up.

“ _What?_ ” Lena snaps her head to Kara, her tone sharp because she’s _pissed_. Pissed enough that she might just march right back to the visitor’s centre and give Maxwell Lord a piece of her mind, escaped T-rex be damned! She didn’t want to be here. Didn’t want to go on this godforsaken trip and review Maxwell Lord’s pet project. But Lex couldn’t be fucking bothered to make the trip out himself, so she had to “be a good sport,” as he had said, and now she’s on an island with fucking dinosaurs in the middle of a storm.

Kara, face pale and eyes wide, points up and all Lena can do is let her eyes follow to where Kara’s pointing. Through the sunroof, Lena watches the T-rex swing its head around, before it eventually seems to settle on their car.

“What’s it doing?” Lena says, voice shaky.

Kara doesn’t say anything, just watches as the T-rex gets closer and closer.

“Kara, what the fuck is it doing?!”

Kara snaps her head to Lena, and, with her voice dead fucking serious, says, “We need to run.”

And then, there’s an absolutely horrifying _crunch_. The T-rex, suddenly a lot fucking closer than it was three seconds ago, is stepping on the hood of the car, lifting it off its back wheels. The T-rex lowers itself a bit, peering in through the sunroof, and Lena and Kara are stiller than statues. It huffs and grunts and fogs up the sunroof. Lena’s close enough to see the razor-sharp teeth of the T-rex, and the fact that she can see pieces of the goat still in its mouth, is nothing short of terrifying.

And then… it just leaves.

The T-rex takes its foot off the hood and begins taking slow steps away. Lena and Kara exhale. Their relief, though welcomed, is short-lived. So short it’s almost irrelevant – it might even pointless that I mentioned it – because then the T-rex swings its tail, colliding with the car and causing it to flip and tumble across the road. A string of curses that don’t really warrant repeating, slip through both Lena and Kara’s lips as they tumble around in the car, finally coming to rest when the car stops, now turned upside down.

Lena groans and goes to rub her aching head, pulling her hand away only to find that she’s bleeding.

“You’re bleeding,” Kara says, as if it isn’t obvious to Lena. Without even thinking, she reaches her hands out to inspect the nasty gash on Lena’s forehead.

“We have bigger problems to deal with right now.” Lena pushes Kara’s hands away. “Or have you forgotten about the T-rex?”

“No, I just… never mind.”

Thankfully, with the car flipping around on the road, the windows shattered, so climbing out of the car isn’t too hard. Lena climbs out first and peers over the car to spot the T-rex turning around and walking back towards them. Her body shakes with every step the T-rex takes.

“Alright, Kara, not to panic you, but it’s coming back, so maybe think about getting a bit of a move-on.”

“Yeah, I’m coming" —she huffs— “my foot’s just stuck.”

“Well get it _un_ stuck.”

“I said I’m trying.” Kara pulls hard on her foot, but it won’t budge.

Lena crawls back into the car and starts pulling at Kara’s leg too. They’re so focussed on trying to free Kara’s foot, that they don’t notice the thumps of the T-rex getting closer until they hear another horrifying _crunch_.

“Fuck! It’s crushing us,” Lena shouts, and sure enough, she’s right. The T-rex stands with one leg on the car, pushing down and crushing Kara and Lena who are still trapped inside. And then it roars, so loud that Lena can _feel_ the ferocious rumble in her entire body. If it weren’t for the fact that she’s running on pure adrenaline right now, Lena’s sure, beyond any reasonable doubt, that she’d pass out.

“Lena, get out of here!”

“ _No_. You’ll be crushed.” She pulls again on Kara’s foot, and again, nothing happens.

The car starts to slide across the ground, and a quick glance behind her, tells Lena that the T-rex is pushing them closer and closer to the cliff’s edge. Perhaps it’s the adrenaline that finally gives Lena the force to pull Kara’s foot free, or maybe it’s something else entirely. Regardless, with one final pull, Kara’s foot is free, but it’s too late, because just as they’re about to climb out of the car, it goes right over the cliff.

* * *

When Kara comes to, it’s to Lena shaking her awake – muttering something about _being really fucking pissed if you don’t wake up, Kara Danvers!_ – a tingling running up and down her left arm, and a pulsating ache in her left shoulder.

Lena breathes a sigh of relief. “You’re awake. I thought, well…” Lena trails off, a silence lingering for a split second before she shakes the thought from her head. “Never mind. You’re okay. That’s what matters.” And the smile Lena gives is something Kara’s only seen a handful of times, usually when she thinks Kara isn’t looking.

There’s a horrendous _creak_ that shatters the silence, and all it really does is remind Kara that the T-rex – _the goddamn T-rex_ – pushed the car off the cliff. Kara finally takes in their new surroundings. Still in the car. Good. Except now they’re dangling over a cliff, the only thing keeping them from plummeting the fifty feet to the ground being thick branches that seem to be working very hard to keep from snapping. Well, shit.

“We need to get out of here,” Kara says.

“Yeah. I think I can see a clear way down, except—”

Kara goes to shift her weight, applying pressure to her left shoulder, but immediately stops herself when the pulsating ache turns into a stabbing pain.

“—I think you’ve dislocated your shoulder.”

“Fuck.”

“Sorry.”

Kara waves her off with her good arm. “Don’t worry. S’not like it’s your fault.”

Lena thinks for a moment and then says, “Take off your belt.”

Kara smirks, perking up a little. “Y’know, as much as I love it when you take charge, I don’t think now is really a great time.”

Lena rolls her eyes. “Not like that you goof. I’ll put you shoulder back in place.”

“Do you know how?” Kara uses her right arm to pull her belt loose.

“I study dinosaur bones for a living. Can’t be too hard.” Lena shoots Kara a smirk as she shifts into position.

Kara sends her a glare.

“Kidding.” Lena smiles. “I played lacrosse in boarding school and dislocated my shoulder on more than one occasion. Learnt how to fix it myself at some point.”

“I didn’t know you played lacrosse,” Kara says, maybe just a little bit too curious about that new piece of information.

Lena shrugs and takes Kara’s belt from her outstretched hands.

“What’s the belt for then?”

Lena folds it in half and then half again. “Put it in your mouth and bite down.”

“Kinky.”

Lena rolls her eyes and tries to suppress a smile. “It’s to stop you from screaming. I don’t know about you, but I’ve had just about enough of the T-rex for today.”

“Good point.” Kara takes the belt and puts it in her mouth, biting down.

“Ready?”

Kara grins around the belt and gives her a thumbs up. When Lena starts rotating Kara’s arm, getting ready to pop it back into place, Kara can feel that pulsating pressure rearing its _goddamn_ ugly head again. And then, in one swift motion, Lena pushes Kara’s shoulder back into place, and amazingly, Kara doesn’t scream, but a string of expletives slips through her lips.

“Better?”

Kara groans and rolls her shoulder, clenches her hand and bends her arm at the elbow. “Yeah. Thanks.”

Lena smiles and shifts away from Kara. “You should still get a doctor to look at it, make sure nothing’s too damaged, but it should hold for now. Try refrain from putting too much pressure on it, okay?”

Kara nods.

“We should probably get a move on.”

“Right.”

* * *

“I don’t think we wanna go back up there,” Kara says, staring up at the cliff their car was pushed over just a few short minutes ago. Drops of rain – now much less heavy – fall against her glasses, and she pulls them off her face and hangs them on the collar of her shirt.

Lena hums, tying her hair back and kneeling down to retie her shoelaces.

“I can’t hear the T-rex anymore.”

Lena holds her hand to the ground. “Can’t feel it either.” She comes to stand beside Kara and dusts off her hands, looking up at the cliff too.

“Do you think the others are okay?”

Lena doesn’t answer right way, not really sure what to say. What the fuck are you even supposed to say to that? _No, the T-rex probably ate them and if we go back up there, we’ll be next._ No. Definitely don’t say that.

“Lena?”

“Hmm? Oh.” Lena shakes the particularly unpleasant thought from her head. “I’m sure they are. They’re smart.”

“Right. Yeah.” Kara nods, like she’s trying to convince herself. “They’re probably trying to find a way back to the visitor centre right now.” And she really fucking hopes that’s the case.

“We should meet them there then,” Lena says, glancing at Kara to gauge her reaction. “We might even be able to find some help along the way.”

Kara hums, still looking up at the cliff, like she’s waiting for Alex to stick her head over and say that she’s okay, that she’ll climb down, and they can figure this out together.

“Kara,” Lena reaches for Kara’s hand, pulling her from her thoughts, “we need to go.”

“I know.” And with one final glance up the cliff, Kara follows Lena into the dense tropical forest that surrounds them.

* * *

The forest grows dense as they venture deeper in, pushing aside leafy branches and vines, and side-stepping pits of mud and thick roots peeking through the ground. Neither of them has spoken a word since the cliff, and the silence lingers, heavy and foreboding, like it’s holding a secret that they both somehow know but aren’t willing to accept. Not yet anyway.

A branch snaps some distance behind them, and Kara swears she can _feel_ the moment it does. Her eyes go wide, frenzied, darting around the dark and misty forest. Her pulse quickens, pounding and drumming through her body, almost deafening to her ears.

“It’s probably nothing,” Lena says, but it’s clear as fucking day that she doesn’t believe and damn word of that.

“Probably,” Kara says, but she sure as fuck doesn’t believe it.

And then Kara and Lena look at each other. Having one of those conversations where you don’t have to speak to know what the other is thinking. And maybe it should bug Lena a little more that her and Kara can have _those_ conversations. The conversations that people say are special, and once in a lifetime type shit. Because that means something. And it does. It means _so_ much to her, but it doesn’t annoy her – not in the least. In fact, she loves it. Loves that her and Kara can communicate across the room, exchanging those secret little looks. It’s just— it should scare her a little bit, right? It’s going against everything she’s said since her and Kara started this… thing way back when.

“Do you wanna climb a tree. Y’know, just in case?” Kara says.

“Couldn’t hurt.”

They amble up the tree, cling to a branch hidden behind leaves, watching and waiting. For what? No fucking clue. Well… that’s not totally true. _I_ know what’s waiting for them, and you will too, but let’s build the suspense a little bit, yeah?

A minute goes by. Then two. And seven. And thirteen. Thirteen whole minutes and nothing.

Kara goes to speak, but Lena’s quick to clamp her hand down over Kara’s mouth, effectively stopping whatever words were about to come tumbling out. She shakes her head, silently imploring Kara not to speak. She strains her ears, trying to hear something faint in the distance.

“Can you hear that,” Lena mouths to Kara.

And when Kara listens too, she can hear it. A faint raspy sort of… barking? Snorting? Something like that, and it repeats itself in this odd little pattern.

What happens next is nothing short of terrifying and causes Kara to damn near fall from the tree. A series of branches and leaves _snap_ and _crunch_ , and then a Velociraptor snaps its head up out of the shrubs right. fucking. below them. It’s feathers ruffle in a sort of wave along the back of its body, snout angles up, and it repeats that same series of raspy barks before darting off further into the forest.

And now Kara’s real fucking glad they decided to climb a tree.

* * *

The rain has all but stopped by the time Kara and Lena make the decision to climb down from their tree. Once they’re on the ground, looking every bit as dishevelled as one would expect someone to look after being pushed off a cliff by a goddamn T-rex, Kara offers her hand to Lena and flashes that crooked little grin.

“Onwards?” Kara says.

And Lena can take care of herself, alright? She’s been on extended digs before, spent days out in the jungle for her post-grad work, so she can damn well handle a hike through a tropical forest, thank you very much. But that doesn’t mean that she’s about to swat Kara’s hand away, no siree! She’s fucking terrified right now, and she knows Kara is too. They could both probably do with something nice and simple like hand-holding. And Lena _wants_ to take Kara’s hand too, and my god does that make her feel good to finally admit. Besides, she’s just been through the type of shit that nothing can prepare you for, she deserves to hold the hand of the girl she likes. The beaming smile Kara sends her way is enough of a reason on its own.

“Onwards,” Lena says, smiling herself.

But just as they’re about to make tracks, something at the base of a tree catches Lena’s eye, and upon closer inspection, it becomes horrifyingly apparent that they’re—

“Eggshells,” Lena says.

Kara squats down and picks a piece of one up. “I think they’re raptor ones. They look just like the ones we saw at the hatchery earlier today.”

Lena slides her phone from her pocket, and though the screen has seen far better days, it still works. She snaps a few pictures of the shattered eggshells before pulling Kara to her feet and urging her along. “Come on, we need to go.”

* * *

In the early hours of dawn, when the sun’s just starting to break over the horizon, pinks and oranges mingling with the deep rich blues and purples of the sky, Kara and Lena finally, _finally_ emerge from the forest and the sight they’re met with is nothing short of breathtaking.

A Brachiosaurus – a herd of them actually – migrating across the hilly field. Kara and Lena sit down at the top of a hill, and just for a moment, for one damn fleeting moment, they find some light in this whole situation. But – because there always has to be a ‘but’ right? – a deep guttural roar shatters the illusion.

The ground shakes. Flocks of birds take flight. Trees _crack_ and collapse in the wake of something big. The T-rex bursts through the edge of the forest, stands tall and roars again.

“Shit.”

“We need to run,” Kara says, grasping Lena’s hand.

“Where the fuck do you want to run? We’re in the middle of a field.”

“No idea, but anywhere seems better than here.”

Kara pulls Lena to her feet and starts to run, and as this is all happening, she can feel the herd of Brachiosaur run too. The heavy and unmistakable thuds of the T-rex are quick to follow, shaking the ground and coming in the direction of Kara and Lena.

Lena makes a split-second decision and pulls Kara over to a fallen tree. They jump over it and press themselves flush against its rough surface.

There’s a wail of pain that explodes then, and something heavy collapses to the ground and a quick glance through a crack in the tree tells Lena that the T-rex took down a Brachiosaurus. The T-rex roars and its thundering steps grow closer and closer to the fallen tree they’re hiding behind. Kara squeezes Lena’s hand, breath laboured, eyes squeezed shut, and praying to just about anything that’ll listen – even the goddamn Tooth Fairy – that the T-rex will just stop and turn around.

_THUD. THUD. THUD._

And then it stops, but now there’s heavy breathing. right. above them. Lena looks up, and sure as shit, the T-rex is right there. Kara looks up too and the grip she has on Lena’s hand tightens.

There’s a sound that breaks through the silence, that raspy barking that the raptors were making before, and that seems to be what finally captures the T-rex’s attention. It stomps off, leaving Kara and Lena holding their breaths, pushed up against a fallen tree.

* * *


	6. The Storm (part iii)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very much overdue. Sorry 'bout that. Anyhow, happy reading :)

* * *

“Well, that can’t be good,” Ruby says when the cables snap, maybe in another poor attempt at humour to lighten the grim mood, and then she briefly wonders if this night can get worse. When she watches the T-rex push the car over the cliff, with Kara and Lena still inside, she very quickly realises that yes, this night can, in fact, get a whole lot worse. “Um, what do we do?”

“We have to help them,” Alex says, eyes fixed on the spot where the car just went over the cliff, knuckles going white as she grips the interior door handle.

“There’s nothing we can do. We have to leave,” Sam says.

“No! We can’t leave them.”

“Alex, it’s the only thing we can do.”

“No. We can go and _help_. That’s my sister down there. I’m not leaving her.”

“You think I want to leave? Lena’s my best friend, she’s Ruby’s Godmother, and the closest thing I have to a sister. Believe me, leaving is the last thing I want to do, but it’s what we have to do.”

Alex looks back to the T-rex stomping around on the muddy road, the rain coming down in violent sheets. She squeezes her eyes shut, takes a deep breath, and counts to five in her head. “Okay. Okay. What now?”

“We need a phone.” Sam starts patting herself down and so does everyone else.

They all pull their phones out and as if on some kind of cue, say, “No service.”

“Shit.” Sam bangs her head against the dashboard and takes a deep breath. “We have to get back to the visitor centre.” She sits up, nodding, like she’s trying to psych herself up. “Right?” She looks to Alex who’s watching the T-rex again.

And maybe Alex is aware of the lull in conversation where Sam’s waiting for her answer, or perhaps she’s just acutely aware of any time Sam’s looking at her. Regardless, she tears her gaze away from the T-rex and brings her attention back to the matter at hand. “Right. That’s where we should be able to find help.”

Sam smiles. “Good. No idea how we’ll get back though.”

“If we wait, it should just go away, right? I mean, I saw in a movie that a T-rex’s vision is based on movement,” Ruby says.

“Part of it is,” Alex says, “but I said the exact same thing to Kara once and she nearly threw her drink at me. Kara said they mostly rely on sound and smell. So, as long as we don’t make any loud noises, it should just go away on its own.”

And sure enough, after five minutes of stomping around, the T-rex finally seems to lose interest, and wanders off into the jungle, no doubt leaving chaos in its wake.

“What’s the plan?” Sam says.

“Get away from the big dinosaur with all the teeth,” Ruby says.

Alex is studying the outside terrain, doing her best to see through the rain, which is nowhere near as ferocious as it had been five short minutes ago, but is still heavy enough to make seeing twenty feet ahead difficult. “There’s a garage, or a shed, or something like that just through there, I think.” She points to a break in the forest where the dirt road diverges off. “Might be able to find a car to get us back.”

“Works for me,” Sam says, gearing up to climb out of the car. She reaches for Ruby’s hand over the back of the seat, squeezing it tight. “Ready?”

Ruby nods, squeezes her mother’s hand, and cracks a weak smile. She’s a little scared, okay? Can you blame her though? This is far from the trip she thought she’d be going on.

Sam is first to open the door, and when she does, the sound it makes is deafening, despite the consistent rainfall and ambience of the forest. It’s a bit like walking around your house at two o’clock in the morning actually. Ordinarily, you wouldn’t pay half a mind to any of the sounds you make, but as soon as two o’clock hits, it’s like every single sound, regardless of how minute and insignificant, has been amplified.

Ruby and Alex follow her out, making quick work of trekking across the muddy road and towards the garage. And when they reach the garage, prying open the rickety roller door, it finally looks like their luck is about to turn around. There’s one of those old Jeeps – just like the ones they’d been escorted around the island in – in the centre of the room. But – because there’s always has to be a ‘but’ remember? – the keys aren’t anywhere in sight.

“I can hot-wire it,” Sam says, like she’s only just now remembering she has that handy little skill.

And maybe Alex is just a little bit intrigued about that fact, like it’s just shifted her entire view and understanding of Sam. Not in a bad way or anything. She just… she never would have picked it.

“Mom, you can hot-wire a car?”

Sam hums, grabs a rusty screwdriver and pair of pliers off the nearby bench, before climbing into the driver’s seat.

“Where’d you learn to do that?” Alex says, climbing into the passenger seat and watching Sam work.

Sam stops working for a moment, lost in some kind of thought, perhaps considering her answer. She shakes it off though and uses the screwdriver to expose the steering column. “Just something I learnt a long time ago. No real story to it.”

Ruby seems to accept the answer, looking genuinely surprised and impressed as she watches her mother fiddle with a bundle of wires. Alex, on the other hand, can see there’s more. Knows there’s a story behind the acquisition of that skill, but she doesn’t push or pry. Sam doesn’t want to divulge that piece of information, and that’s fine – more than fine, actually! – and besides, it’s none of her business anyway.

“Can you teach me?” Ruby says.

“Sure,” Sam says, distracted, too focused on stripping the wires and getting the car started to really process what she’s just agreed to, “I’ll even teach you how to pick a lock and light a match with one hand.”

“You’re the best, Mom.” Ruby leans forward and hugs her mother over the seat, and that seems to be what finally snaps Sam out of her trance. She looks over at Alex, a little alarmed, having realised what she’s agreed to, but before she has any chance to take back what she said, the car’s lights switch on, quickly followed by the low rumble of the ignition.

“Nicely done,” Alex says, impressed.

Sam smiles, shrugs, and shifts the car into gear.

* * *

The dirt road proves more troublesome than any of them were expecting. Sure, the car’s a Jeep, so it’s been designed with off-road travel in mind. However, the car is old, and it certainly wasn’t designed to drive through deep muddy footprints left behind by a T-rex.

“Shit.” Sam bangs her hands against the steering wheel. “We’re stuck.”

“Hey,” Alex rests her hand on Sam’s forearm and squeezes gently, “it’s fine. We’ll just get out and push, alright?”

“Right.” Sam nods. “Yeah, okay.”

“C’mon, Ruby. You ever pushed a car out of a hole before?” Alex says, hooking her arm over the back of her seat and glancing back at Ruby.

“Nope. But hey” —she shrugs— “this is a day for firsts. Saw my first dinosaur today, why not push a car out of a hole for the first time too?”

That gets Alex and Sam to laugh.

They get the car out. It takes a moment and some careful finessing, but it ends with the car out of the hole and on a slightly more stable part of the road, and, of course, Alex’s front caked in mud after she leant just a little to far against the back of the Jeep.

Just as Ruby’s about to climb into the car again, she spots a puddle not far behind them. She stares at it for a moment, and then it happens, the concentric circles. Her eyes go wide and her stomach sinks.

Ruby scrambles back into the car, and all she says is, “Drive.”

“That’s the plan, Rubes,” Sam says, shifting the car out of neutral and into drive.

“No, no” —Ruby leans over the front seat and looks her mother dead in the eyes— “ _drive_.”

In the split second of silence that hangs after Ruby finishes speaking, and before Sam has a chance to press the accelerator down, they all hear it—

_THUD. THUD. THUD._

—and their stomachs drop. Sam presses her foot against the accelerator and the car speeds down the muddy dirt path, all the while, those deafening _thud_ s getting louder and louder.

Ruby glances back and watches the trees shake and fall in the wake of something big. “Mom, you have to go faster,” she says.

The _thud_ s grow closer still and then a bone-shattering _roar_ rips from the forest, followed quickly by the T-rex smashing through the tree line and out onto the road, chasing after the accelerating Jeep. The T-rex gains on them, and with everyone so focused on shouting “Faster!” or “It’s gaining on us!” or some other variant, no one notices the fallen branch dangling over the road.

Sam decides in that split second that the small gap between the road and fallen branch is enough for the Jeep to pass under. “Down!” she yells.

They all duck, and the windshield hits the branch and shatters as the Jeep flies ahead, finally picking up some speed. The T-rex just runs right through the branch though, smashing it to small pieces.

“Faster, faster!” Ruby shouts. “Please, Mom.”

With one final push on the accelerator, the Jeep zooms ahead, and the T-rex loses interest, eventually fading from their view. Sam still guns ahead though, the engine roaring and wheels churning up the dirt road.

“Think that’ll be part of the tour?” Ruby says, and Sam and Alex laugh, perhaps a little bit delirious.

* * *

The Jeep screeches to a halt out front the visitor’s centre, and Alex, Sam, and Ruby all jump out and amble up the short flight of stairs, pushing their way inside, and making sure that the doors close behind them.

“What now?” Alex says.

“You can come with me,” a voice from behind the group says.

They spin around and find a man standing several feet off to the side, holding a door open. The ID card dangling on the lanyard around the man’s neck, tells the group that he works here.

“And who are you?” Sam says.

“Winn Schott. I work here. Well, _worked_. I don’t think I have much of a job here now.”

“Okay, Winn Schott, you wanna tell us why we were just chased by a T-rex?” Alex says.

“I will, just not here, okay? With the power down, all the dinosaurs are free to roam around, and the raptors kinda scare me. So…” he steps aside, holding the door open further, and gesturing for them to follow.

* * *

Alex, Sam, and Ruby follow Winn through a short series of corridors, their path lit by red emergency lights. Winn stops suddenly and pushes a door open, ushering everyone inside, before closing the door behind him, and securing it with a metal bar.

“Whoa, is this the control room?” Ruby steps into the dark room, marvelling at the screen on the wall that has little thumbnail pictures of different areas of the park.

“Yeah,” Winn says.

“I don’t understand; I assumed the storm knocked the power out,” Sam says. “How are the cameras still operating?”

“You are right: the storm did knock the power out. But a place like this” — Winn gestures vaguely to the screen— “has generators in case a storm hits.”

“So, why was the T-rex was able to escape?”

“The storm wiped out power to everything, so the generators kicked in. Except Mr Lord insisted that the enclosures be on a completely separate circuit that can’t be accessed online; same applies to the generators for the enclosures. It was supposed to add a layer of protection in case our systems were breached.”

“They still should have turned on then, right?” Sam says.

“Yeah, but the generators for the enclosures were damaged in the storm.”

“Is there any way to fix it?”

“Technically, no. But I can reconfigure it so the generators that are working, service the enclosures too.”

“Just do that then,” Alex says.

“I can’t. The generators for the enclosures run on a completely different line, and they need to be switched at the fuse box before I can have remote access.”

“And where’s the fuse box?”

“In a small bunker underground that’s about half a mile east.”

“Let’s go then.”

“Is she serious?” Winn starts to laugh, but stops when he realises that _yes, Alex is very serious_. “It’s not just the T-rex that’s out. Every animal here has just been given free reign over the island, and a lot of those animals like to hunt at night. So, it would be better if we wait ‘till morning before we go hiking through the forest.”

Alex is about to argue, about to insist that they go anyway. Her sister is out there, and she can’t just sit here and do nothing. She can’t. She needs to do something. Needs to help. But it’s Sam’s hand gently resting on her upper arm that stops any argument.

“Can you find the people that were with us?” Sam asks. “Lena and Kara were in the front car and the T-rex pushed it over the cliff. Is there any way for you to find them?”

“I can try,” Winn says, as he drops into a roller chair and begins typing away at the keyboard. “If they’re anywhere near the path, the cameras should be able to pick them up. It’s dark, so it might be a bit tricky, but I can look for you.”

“We’d really appreciate it.”

“Consider it done.” Winn offers the group a sympathetic smile. “There’s a bathroom just through there” —he gestures to a door at the back of the room— “and a couch in the corner if you wanna try to get some rest.”

Ruby excuses herself to the bathroom, Sam drops herself onto the couch, and Alex pulls a chair up beside Winn.

“Is it normally just you in here?” Alex says.

Winn shakes his head, still working away at finding Kara and Lena. “No. There’s normally five of us.”

“And where are they?”

Winn doesn’t answer right away, his hands hovering over the keyboard. “Most of them tried to run, but, um, the raptors are faster.”

“Sorry.”

“Me too.”

“And Maxwell Lord?”

“Just after everything went offline, he ran. And when we did finally get the security cameras back online, we watched him take one of the helicopters.”

“Asshole.”

* * *

Some hours later, and in the soft blueish glow of the monitors filling the room, Alex finds herself wide awake, reclined as best she can in one of the roller chairs with her feet kicked up onto the desk. Winn left the security camera feed up on the large screen at the front of the room just before he finally passed out, so Alex has spent most of the night watching the feed, just in case, y’know?

“Can’t sleep?” someone – Alex quickly realises it’s Sam – says.

“Something like that, I guess,” Alex says as she takes her feet off the desk.

Sam pulls over another roller chair and watches the screen at the front of the room too. They sit in silence for a while, the only thing to break the steady silence in the room being the low hum of the computers, and Ruby shuffling around in her sleep.

“Are you scared?” Sam finally says.

“A little,” Alex says in a moment of honesty. “You?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you think they’ll be okay?”

“I want to say yes, but I really don’t know,” Sam says, and then adds: “Sorry, I’m sure that’s not the answer you wanted to hear.”

“Don’t apologise. The honesty’s nice.”

“At least they aren’t alone. I can’t even begin to imagine what being stuck out there must be like, so it’s good that they’ve got each other.”

“Yeah.” Alex smiles and nods, because that is good, and it does make her feel better knowing that her sister isn’t out there alone.

“I’m curious,” Sam says, “how come you agreed to come on this trip?”

“Can’t a girl take a last-minute trip to an island full of dinosaurs without a reason?” Alex jokes, and then a moment later, explains further. “Kara actually insisted I come along.”

“That’s sweet.”

Alex hums her agreement. “She thought it might be good for me to get away from the city for the weekend.”

“How come?”

“I was engaged,” Alex says. “We broke up three months ago, and I guess Kara’s just been worried about me.”

“Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

Alex waves Sam’s concern away. “Don’t worry. It’s fine. Good even. We wanted different things, so it’s better it happened when it did instead of after we were married.”

“You should try to get some sleep,” Sam says sometime later.

“You should too.”

“We have a deal then?”

“A deal?”

“I’ll get some sleep if you do too. We won’t be any help getting out of here if we’re both too exhausted to keep our eyes open.”

“Deal.”

“Shake on it?” Sam sticks her hand out, one of those warm disarming smiles on her face, and Alex is powerless to resist.

“Deal.”

* * *

It’s Alex who makes the half-mile journey out to the bunker the next morning. She repeats the instructions Winn gave in her head as she walks through the lush forest, and grips the piece of paper with the line of code she needs to enter into the system interface, in order to grant Winn immediate remote access.

Her steps are careful and measured, and she makes a conscious effort to crouch a little too. The structure comes into view soon enough, and after climbing over the chain-link fence, and pushing through the heavy metal door, she’s standing in the crowded room with the fuse box in front of her.

Alex unclips the walkie-talkie attached to her hip and brings it to her mouth. “I’m here,” she says.

“ _Good_ ,” comes Winn’s staticky reply, “ _now just do exactly what I told you and then enter that line of code into the system interface._ ”

“Roger that.”

“ _And then get yourself back here, please_ ,” Sam this time says.

“Trust me, I will not be spending any more time in here than I have to.” Alex clips the walkie-talkie back on her hip and gets to work.

She follows Winn’s instructions to a T and enters the single line of code that grants Winn full access.

“Alright, it’s done,” Alex says into her walkie-talkie. “Did it work?”

There’s a moment where no one responds, and that sinking feeling of dread starts to settle in.

“Hello? You guys there?”

“ _Yes, sorry didn’t mean to scare you_ ,” Winn says. “ _It worked. You can come back now._ ”

Alex breathes a sigh of relief and slouches back against a large pipe. “Alright.” And then, barely a split second later, there’s a horrifying _roar_ that rips through the bunker. Alex jumps back from the pipe and spins around to see a raptor. It slashes and takes a lunging sweep towards Alex, barely missing and getting tangled in the mess of pipes and wires on the floor. Alex curses and spins on her heels, sprinting back the way she came.

Alex hefts the metal door open, listening as the raptor detangles itself and follows behind. She slams it shut behind her and ambles up the short flight of concrete steps until she’s sprinting through the jungle. And just as she thinks this can’t possibly get any worse, she hears something running no more than twenty feet behind her, concealed in the tree line.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: [@just-some-girlll](https://just-some-girlll.tumblr.com/)


	7. Stronger Together (part i)

* * *

Lena doesn’t process much for the next few minutes, too focused on her breath held tight in her throat, her back pressed firmly against the collapsed tree, and the fact that she’s digging her nails into Kara’s hand, surely leaving behind little crescent-shaped indentations. She doesn’t relinquish the hold she has on Kara’s hand – can’t bring herself to – but she does loosen her grip just a bit once she’s sure the T-rex is gone.

“We’re fucked,” Kara says.

“Aren’t you supposed to be the positive one in this relationship?”

“Relationship?” That gets Kara to grin. “So, this is a relationship now?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“Except you kinda did though.”

“Shut up.” Lena drops Kara’s hand, shoves her shoulder, and turns to peer over the fallen tree.

Kara, with a small smile on her face, mirrors Lena’s position. “At least it’s going in the opposite direction of the visitor’s centre,” she says, noting the way the _thud thud thud_ is growing more and more distant.

Lena hums.

“Maybe we won’t become T-rex food today.”

“Well, if we did, we’d die of shock quite quickly. Being crushed from both sides would hurt, but not for long.”

“You say the most romantic things to me.” And Kara flashes Lena one of those gooey smiles that says more than what words ever could.

Lena rolls her eyes, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips. “Come on, we should keep moving.”

* * *

Getting back to the visitor’s centre is actually… easy? Like, surprisingly easy. Suspiciously easy, even. Kara had been expecting _something_. She’s not sure what she was expecting – maybe a dinosaur to jump out from the tree line – but there’s nothing, and now she’s sort of just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Because it cannot be this easy, right?

Kara guesses that it doesn’t take much more than an hour to get back, and by the time she sees the top of the visitor’s centre come into view, she’s sure it’s a cruel hallucination. After the night she’s just had, can you really blame her?

They stumble out onto a dirt road – a service road if Kara’s guessing – and it’s sort of at the back of the visitor’s centre, hidden away from the prying eyes of any guests Maxwell Lord had hoped to rope in before everything went to shit. They’re careful to keep their footsteps quiet lest one of the less forgiving dinosaurs springs out in front of them.

“I can see a service door just down there,” Lena says. “If the power’s still out, we should be able to get in that way.”

“Lead the way.”

They wander through a series of doors and corridors, the only thing to light the tight spaces being the vibrant red emergency light. The power’s still out, and Kara’s not quite sure if that’s a good or bad thing at this point. Eventually, they do end up in an office, a cramped and stuffy office, servicing at least three employees, but an office all the same. There’s another door in the far corner of the room, and just as Kara’s about to pull it open, the power seems to come back on, because the magnetic lock keeping the door secure, rearms itself, and now the door won’t budge.

“Well, fuck me,” Kara says, and bangs her head against the door for good measure. Maybe this is the other shoe.

“Not right now,” Lena presses a quick kiss to Kara’s cheek, “we need to unlock that door.”

And that— Kara has to blink, has to shake her head and maybe pinch herself, because Lena _flirted_. Sure, Lena’s always played into their little game, flirting and making little witty remarks over the years, but never like _that_. Never in the middle of something so damn important, and never so casual. When she’d say things like that, it was always followed up with a knowing little smirk as she sauntered away, tempting Kara to follow, but not this time. This time Lena doesn’t even seem to realise what she’s said, just kisses her – kisses her! – and goes over to the desk to rifle through the drawers.

“What’re you doing?” Kara says, still in a bit of a daze.

“I need a screwdriver or something like that,” Lena rushes out, dumping the contents of a drawer onto the floor and sifting through the mess.

Kara springs into action and starts pulling open drawers and moving files, papers, and books aside. “Here,” she tosses a small multi-tool Lena’s way – one of those 5-in-1 screwdriver sets disguised as a pen.

Lena catches it with ease and reaches for the laptop perched precariously on the stack of papers at the corner of the desk. She flips it over and screws off the back, going immediately for the hard drive.

“What’re you doing?”

“The electrical lock on that door” —Lena nods to the lock— “is magnetic. A lot of magnetic locks can be confused with a strong enough rare earth magnet. Fortunately for us, computer hard drives are made with rare earth magnets.” Lena grabs the magnet from the hard drive, ambles over to the door, and holds the magnet against the lock.

 _Click_.

Lena smiles and opens the door.

“Is there anything you can’t do?” Kara says, impressed, peeking her head out into the corridor, and checking that it’s clear.

“I’m a terrible baker.” Lena steps past Kara and out into the empty corridor. It’s identical to the corridor that Maxwell Lord led them down at the start of the day, but it’s definitely not the same one. This one looks to be a service corridor that connects offices and storerooms.

“Really? It’s just chemistry; I thought you were a chemistry whizz way back when.”

“I know,” Lena stops and fixes Kara with a steady glare, “which is why I don’t tell people that I’m a terrible baker.”

Kara grins. “You told me.”

“You’re different – good different,” she says, and then adds: “Don’t let that get to your head.”

Lena continues on down the corridor and Kara jogs to catch up with her.

“Lena?”

“Hmm?”

“You’re secret’s safe with me.”

Lena seems to relax at that, and another one of those rare but genuine smiles spreads across her face as she leads them into the main area of the visitor’s centre.

* * *

Alex pushes herself. Like, she really pushes herself. There’s a burning sensation setting in along the front of her thighs, each breath she takes feels like it’s burning her throat, and she’s more than certain she managed to roll her ankle when she stumbled on the root peeking through the path. But she’s pushing herself, channelling all the energy she has.

Alex stumbles out from the forest, and now she can see the visitor’s centre. She ambles up the short flight of stairs, pushes through the glass doors, and throws herself inside.

“Alex?”

Alex spins around at the mention of her name, and there, standing further inside, is Kara and Lena.

“You’re okay.” Alex runs over to her sister, pulling her into a tight hug. “You’re both okay.” And then she hugs Lena too, because the adrenaline running through her body right now doesn’t seem to care that her and Lena aren’t particularly close, only that she’s okay.

“Yeah, we’re okay,” Kara says, concerned, and trying to hold her sister up because it really looks like Alex might collapse at any moment. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better.”

“Alex,” Lena says, “where are Sam and Ruby? Are they okay?”

Alex nods, still catching her breath. “Yes. Yes, they’re fine. They’re with Winn. In the control room.”

“Who’s Winn?” Kara says.

“Computer guy. Wicked smart. I think he might be able to get us off this island.”

Another _roar_ rips through then, and Kara, Lena, and Alex all very quickly decide to keep moving.

“Come on,” Alex says, already running in the direction of the control room, “we need to regroup.”

* * *

After they’re all back in the control room, the door locked and sealed, and hugs shared all around, the six of them spread out around the room. Alex is in a roller chair, foot propped up on the desk; Kara’s laying on the floor, drumming her fingers against her stomach; Winn’s working at one of the computers; Lena’s crouched in front of the minifridge crammed into the back corner, rifling through it; Ruby’s keeping herself occupied by wandering around the room; and Sam’s sitting on the couch, head tipped back, and nursing a headache that seems to be setting in.

“Were you saving this champagne for something?” Lena calls out to Winn from the fridge.

“Hm?” Winn looks over his shoulder. “Oh. Mr Lord got it. We were supposed to open it when the park officially opened, but it doesn’t look like that’s going to happen. Help yourself.”

Lena rummages around until she finds some paper cups, handing one to each of the four other adults, before passing a half-empty tub of ice-cream and spoon to Ruby.

Kara takes a sip of the champagne and says, “It’s good.”

That gets a chorus of hums.

“No expense spared, huh?” Kara chuckles to herself, humourless, as she brings the cup to her mouth and takes another sip.

* * *

“What’s our next move?” Kara asks no one particular sometime later.

Winn speaks up from his desk, hesitant. “There’s a contingency plan of sorts.” At the curious looks from everyone, he explains further. “The lysine contingency. It’s intended to prevent the spread of the animals in case they ever managed to get off the island, but we could use it now. The bioengineers inserted a gene that makes a single faulty enzyme in protein metabolism – the animals can’t manufacture the amino acid lysine. Unless they’re continually supplied with lysine by us, they’ll go into a coma and die.”

“And how does that work? Some kind of switch to flip or button to press?” Alex says.

“No, it’s actually pretty simple. We stop running the program and leave them unattended.”

“That seems a bit cruel, doesn’t it?” Sam says this time, looking to everyone.

“It’s totally painless. They’d slip into unconsciousness and die.”

“How long would that take?” Lena says.

“A week, maybe ten days.”

“That doesn’t seem like much of an option for us,” Alex says.

“So, what’d we do?” Kara says. “Just wait?”

“Sitting around would be just as counterproductive as running outside,” Lena says. “We need a plan, and deliberately killing the animals is not the way to do it.”

“We could fly out of here,” Sam suggests. “The helicopter that brought us in, is it still here?”

“Should be,” Winn says. “I imagine Mr Lord would have used his personal one when he left yesterday, but the one you came in on is on the other side of the island. We’d need a quick way to move across the island.”

“I hotwired a car to get us here last night,” Sam says. “It’s just out front.”

“That’ll work.”

“Then it’s settled.” Sam looks to everyone. “We get to the car out front, drive to the helipad, and the get the hell away from this place.”

“I like that idea,” Alex says.

“Ditto,” Ruby says.

There’s a new light that fills the room – hope. It’s bubbly and invigorating and fills everyone with a newfound motivation. Because maybe, just maybe, they might be able to find a way out of here. Maybe they’ll be able to survive. But – because remember, there’s always has to be a ‘but’ – the claw that raps against the thin window embedded in the heavy metal door destroys that hope.

Everyone’s head snaps over to the door, and that’s when they see one of the raptors breathing heavily against the window, fogging up the glass, and razor-sharp teeth on full display.

And this, Kara decides, is definitely the other shoe.

* * *

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: [@just-some-girlll](https://just-some-girlll.tumblr.com/)


End file.
